Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-06-11

VHJE u
| Yea wili rsmsmbss,--os, more iiksly, you
woa't-thas more than . year ego, whom
writing about The short story - . distinctive
element In our Ansr,can literature, I mon.
toned one which he'd appeared In 7As Cen.
tsry short time before, - In my. opinion
the most psrisot specimen Of that kind Of
literature thst hsd yet been written. "Maus
Chan IVES the title Of the story and II IVES
by an author whose name was new 70
me: Thomss Nelson Pssa II he he'd nsver
written anything mor0, that one gem of Q
story would have given him . prominent
plsce In tho galaxy OF bright snd aiming
lights that have arisen In the literary hrma.
mont Of the New south I" since tho storm
| Of war has cleared II os the Osnumbing
vapors and dspreasing clouds thst no long
he'd wrapped the spiritual life Of tho South -
10 psli.
IL IVES very esstify ing " ms, sster he'd
formed aud expressed the above opinion, 10
Ind thst II was verified, with . unanimity
that wss rather remark a6le, by nearly all the
leading critics Of tho press while the general
reader hailed tho new author with . do
lighted welo0ine ~ containing tho promise
and potency rot indefinite enjoy mont IN the
future. And am contident that thousands
looked forward with inc full Of expectancy
from month to month, and eagerly scanned
the pages Of The Century, tor something
more from the gifted pen Oi Thomas Nelson
PAga Nor did We look In vain. For soon
came Meh Lsdy," . worthy successor Of
"Msrse Chan y; aud from time n time
several others In the ssmo delightful vein.
Uhts I,,,N
wholly satisfactory. B0me kinds Of liters-
turs, In fact, according to my tasts, the great
bulk Of magazine short stories aud long ones
too, ono In content N read once and then cast
aside, or at mos: preserve In y disrnember
aud scattered state In the bDuud volumes OF
ths magazine,-I kind Of 'embalming aud
burial from which there In no resurrection 70
real lifs. But once 10 = longwbie there appears
q novel, or = succession OF short stories, the
first reading ot which IL only kind OF sp-
petizer. One wants u read them again, and
y8t again ono wants to have them apart by
themselves; ono wants them all together In .
book, ~ permanent piece OF literature, 70
take Its place, on our shelves for reference
and repeated enjoyment by the whole
family! To this exceptional class felt that
Mr.. Pages stories presminently belonged.
They are too good meat for mere magazine
sandwich. they are . whole dish In them
Selvoa And they taste better separately and
alone than with metan1c Of miscellaneous
scoom EAniments, however good aud interest.
Ing these latter may be.
I can prove the correctness OF this notion
for Mr.. Pages stories have just been gath.
cred into such separate form, aud issued in
. convenian' aud attractive volume by
Charles Sctibnsr's Sons OF New York, under
the appropriate title OF In Ole Vir1inid, with
the sub title OF Marse Chan and Other Stories.
These Other Stories are tive In number, and
follow each other in this order: Unc'
Ed,nearss Eas., g.. Drowndin', A Plantation as
"ois % 's,rs",sd " s No "a 1 M.is r P.sn" ;"s NO
Kscollection." The binding Of thi, volume
~ 81 strik Ing, more unique than beautiful, ~
At once to arrest attention, and, what may
have been the Intention, To tempt even
the most careless and indifferent to pick
1t up and examine 1t more closely. The dull
green ground hAs u kiud of lattice work OF
red, through and over which twinss Nir.
einia creeper, with leaves almost natural
sizs, In bright yellow. Tbis design, with tho
title In yellow aud red, covers the whole side
oi the book, while the back corresponds
with It II certS,nty In original, and as Ger.
tainiy attrscts attention to the volume
After again reading the stories, ~ collected
In this volume, my tirst opinion cpncsrning
otherwise. l, is ths best snort story in dia.
lect 1 have ever read. And the "Other
Stories are second N sxcsiisocs only to it.
except "No Had Pawn " which has con.
siderAbiy Iess merit In making this esti.
Bato O' Mr., Pages work, do not forget the
prod uctions Of tbs own more famous prede.
cessors In the sane line | haven't read
any Ol joel Chandler Harr>'s, or OF Maurice
Thompson's, or OF Frank Il Stockton's
negro sketches with anything like the same
ihs i've best stories in this volume has at.
forded me- Nor do / place them second In
literary merit to Bret Hsrts's California char
acter sketches. or to George Cables "Oid
Creole Days, nor yet to Miss Muriree's In
the Tennessee Mountains. "
by this don't mean to say that his de-
lneation OF the negro character, or repro.
duction OF the Ess. Virsiaiau negro's dia-
lect, Is more accurate than thoss OF the ne.
groes, creOles, mountainesrs, and frontiers
men depicted by these other authors for OF |
that am not q competent judge. What |
mean IL tina, hts stories, Simply Rs stories, |
are equal u the best OF their kind ever writ |
ten. And, in fact, they treat less OF the |
negro than of his former aristocratic " msrss" |
ana " mist!s I" immed lately before, during, |
aud after the war. They are stories OF the |
old Nirainian untitled "nobiity, " Of the
bitter jsslousiss and hstrsds, the deadly
OF all that entered into their rela. |
tions with one another, aud with their slaves. |
And, what IL peculiar to these stories, and
per rhspS an essential element Ot their charm,
all these characteristics are presented from the
point Of view, not OF the slave owners, nor of |
y Northsrner, but OF the slaves themselves
Thus the first three stories are put into the |
mouths OF the devoted old body servants of |
their respective heroes, aud narrated by them
IN their own style and language entirely.
The story OF soc 'Stracted, " too, Is largely |
told in the same way by 4 negro; and so,
partly at least, IL Polly"
Now while this dislsct of the negroes OF
Eastern Virginia IL very unlike that OF
the negroes in any other part OF the 5 ruth,
and while unquestionsbly 1t IL not, at ii rst at
least, easy work to read aud understand the
bsrosrous jargon, yet to translate these
stories into our every day English would be
like extracting all the pepper and salt from an
oyster stew. The oysters ara there, indeed,
but their relish and pungency IL gone So in
these sketches the plot would remain the
same, there would still be rich huMor aud all
the deem pAthOS in each. but that which. OV